The Product Management Iceberg

Karl was an Engineering Manager for a decade when he decided to switch over to Product Management. He had been doing it for a couple of years when I caught up with him and asked him what he thought was the hardest part of the transition he made. After all, I had made the same transition many years ago and I wanted to get his take. Karl said: “There are a couple of things that come to mind. One thing is that engineers seem to care far less about my priorities as a Product Manager than I ever would have guessed. We’re all on the same team but a fair portion of the time it feels like they are trying to nudge me toward the engineering priorities (from their point of view) or are frustrated with me because I’m not providing hardened answers quickly enough. But I think the worst thing, getting back to your actual question, is that as a PM you have all this accountability, company-wide, and yet you have absolutely no control.”

Recently many have approached me inquiring how to transition to a Product Manager role. Engineers, managers, researchers, testers, marketers – it’s remarkable the amount of interest arising, perhaps due to the mounting numbers of job seekers. I’m supportive of people wanting to switch things up and don’t wish to discourage anyone from pursuing something that might be better for them. But I feel an obligation to offer a shot of reality. For the reasons hinted at by Karl, doing the job well is harder than it seems.

PM certification courses have been popping up everywhere, and in fact at one time I taught for a commercial institution as a side gig. The good news is you can learn all the PM techniques in short order. A 12-week course and you’ve got a certificate and the fundamentals under your belt. However, the techniques of PM work – researching, forming objectives, GTM planning, developing requirements, measuring adoption, striving for product market fit, success analytics, etc. etc. – the techniques are a mere first step in a journey. And there are no classes I know of that cover the remainder of the journey, unless an instructor takes it upon himself or herself to try to illuminate the problems, like I did.

Getting a certificate means you can see the tip of the iceberg. Invisible under the waterline is the cruel, grinding mountain that sank the Titanic. That’s the “absolutely no control” aspect of the work Karl referenced. I often visualize the PM as the hub of a spoked wheel. At the outer end of the spokes are all the product stakeholders – marketing, sales, engineering, support, finance, executives, customer success, etc. The hub carries the weight (accountability) of all of them in turn, ensuring the wheel rotates and moves the wagon (company) forward. If any of them get out of alignment with the hub, weak spots develop that disrupt progress. But that’s where my analogy ends. 

The trouble is, no analogy or logical construct can carry the complexity and unpredictability of the role. Those depending on PMs are people, each with their own communication patterns, moods, goals, priorities, projects to do, ambitions, complications in their personal lives, promises to customers or to leadership. They don’t answer to the PMs. The PM is just another voice in the crowd asking for their attention and collaboration. To be effective and, dare I say, great at the job, requires a different skill set than is taught in certification programs:

• How do you get their attention without annoying them or triggering the “boy who cried wolf” syndrome? 
• How do you capture their alignment with the details of your product and keep that alignment over months? 
• How do you coax someone to espouse your highest priorities when she suffers under monstrous pressures of her own work, and with limited resources, at the same time?
• How do you keep your team moving forward on the product when requirements are blurred because executive disagreements plague your ability to make crisp decisions?

The answer is, remember that the things you were taught – techniques, tools, and skills – can be taught rapidly to anyone with intelligence. But the iceberg under the surface demands that you elevate your essential human qualities. I’m referring to your abilities to:

• Use empathy to give you insights you may lack from surface level interactions.
• Practice leading through influence, and keep in mind that leadership is not about controlling your direct reports, it’s about helping everyone around you improve and win. 
• Learn how to achieve your aims by persuasion and bargaining whenever and wherever you need to.
• Rapid change will hit you from any direction at any time. Be a cat. A cat always lands on its feet, ready to flee or fight. That’s your best reaction for coping with the unexpected. 
• Feed and nurture your will to win, because that is what you use to combat setbacks on your progress. It helps you cope with unexpected changes. But if you find yourself fighting people or circumstances, instead of coping and persuading, ask yourself if you are prioritizing being right over actually winning. If so, you’ve got the results inverted.
• Pursue and do your best to resolve anything that can impact your product’s development and completion. Your vigilance must be relentless to prevent ugly surprises and to alleviate any risks that you can.

There’s much more to it, beyond the bullet list. But I’m not trying to frighten you, I’m trying to educate you. If you want to be a Product Manager, then give real attention to these essential human qualities. Pick up the threads of each and begin to weave your patterns, your own unique method of elevating your humanity. These qualities can be honed like other skills if you apply yourself and expect a long journey. And, if you ever end up in the role, they multiply your chances of success.